Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Stroke and Dementia

Sugar and artificially-sweetened beverage intake have been linked to cardiometabolic risk factors, which increase the risk of cerebrovascular disease and dementia. This study examined whether sugar or artificially sweetened beverage consumption was associated with the prospective risks of incident stroke or dementia. The authors looked at three combinations: intake of total sugary beverages (soft drinks, fruit juice), intake of sugar sweetened soft drinks (high sugar carbonated) and intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks (sugar free carbonated). They found that greater recent consumption of artificially sweetened soft drinks was associated with an increased risk of stroke, with the strongest associations observed for ischemic stroke. While higher cumulative intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks was also associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke.

“To our knowledge, our study is the first to report an association between daily intake of artificially sweetened soft drink and an increased risk of both all cause dementia and dementia because of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Diabetes is an important risk factor for both stroke and dementia; importantly, both sugar intake (including sweetened drinks) intake and artificially sweetened drinks intake increase the risk of diabetes. “Diabetes mellitus status was identified as a potential mediator of the association between artificially sweetened beverage intake and the risk of both incident all-cause dementia and AD dementia.”